Ah, young love… Do you remember those days? I remember the days when boys were gross, and I used to chase them around the playground.

Photo by Alicia Benton

My mom used to tell me that meant I had a crush on one of those boys. What?! No way! She was nuts! Of course, as I grew up, I realized that she was exactly right. I mean, how else are you supposed to show a boy that you like him, besides chasing him around and pushing him down when you finally catch him??? Well, I’ll tell you what – It’s quite an eye-opening experience when you finally get to see your kid reach those days. There’s a girl in Ronald’s class, who also happens to live in our neighborhood, who thinks “Ronald is gross.” [Read: “Ronald is cute.”] How do I know this, you ask? Well, I’m glad you asked. For one, every day when Ronald gets home from school, he updates me on the latest number of times that Kayla pulled his hair in class and on the bus. (Remember, he’s got the mean ‘fro going on…) Then, he tells me all about how while he was riding his bike, she chased him around the neighborhood throwing pine cones at him. Today, my sister and I watched first hand as she showered him with pink flower petals as he rode by. Then she proceeded to pick up handfuls of pine straw and attempt to cover him in it. She never misses a chance to tell me about all the “gross” things Ronald does. He keeps telling me how annoying she is, and when I tell him that it’s just her way of showing him that she likes him, he responds with, “Eww, Mom. That’s gross. Plus, she’s mean to me. There’s no way she likes me.” Ha! Little does he know that she goes home after school and doodles her first name right alongside his last name. She’s already picked out her wedding dress for that glorious day ten years from now that she gets to marry MY son! [Over my dead body, by the way…] It’s so funny to me now to see that the way we females show boys that we like them is by doing the meanest things we can think of to them. What… you want me to be NICE to the boy I like? Yeah right! Hmm… I guess some things will never change, huh? 😉

[…] the boys were at the pool in our neighborhood, and Ronald’s little girlfriend (you remember – the one who’s mean to him?) came out to watch them swim. I was relaxing in the hammock and overheard the following […]